By THAYER EVANS

Published: January 6, 2007

Jimmy Clausen, one of the nation's top-rated high school football players, watched most of Notre Dame's dismal 41-14 loss to Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl on Wednesday night.

Clausen, a quarterback who is scheduled to enroll early at Notre Dame this month, is here to play in Saturday's U.S. Army All-American Bowl, an annual gathering of the nation's elite prep seniors. He had talked to Notre Dame Coach Charlie Weis the previous day to offer encouragement to him and his future teammates.

''It was a tough game for them,'' said Clausen of the Sugar Bowl loss, Notre Dame's ninth consecutive bowl defeat.

When Clausen arrives at Notre Dame on Jan. 14, the question that will hover over his career will be whether he is the next Joe Montana or the next Ron Powlus. After putting up gaudy numbers at Oaks Christian School in Westlake Village, Calif., Clausen has been described as the ''LeBron James of high school football'' and ''The Chosen One'' from an early age.

Powlus came to Notre Dame with similar hype in 1993 and, despite having a solid career, was viewed as a failure by many because he did not win multiple Heisman trophies as the ESPN analyst Beano Cook predicted.

There is an undercurrent of doubt about Clausen because of his attitude and a lack of high school competition. Some have questioned whether he was so dominant because, at 19, he was much older than his classmates and his opponents.

Clausen also drew criticism when he announced his decision to attend Notre Dame at a news conference in April at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend, Ind. He arrived in a stretch Hummer limousine, and many questioned just how collegiate in nature the whole production was.

Clausen shrugged off the criticism.

''I've had pressure my whole life so it's nothing new to me,'' said Clausen, whose brothers, Casey and Rick, played quarterback at Tennessee.

There is no doubt Clausen handled the pressure against high school competition. During his three years as the starter there, he led Oaks Christian to a 42-0 record and threw 146 touchdown passes. Both are state records. In his senior year, he completed 69 percent of his passes for 3,428 yards and 49 touchdowns with only six interceptions, leading Oaks Christian to a 15-0 record and a state championship.

And there is no doubting that the Irish's rabid fan base has been salivating over his arrival; he has been receiving e-mail messages and hand-written letters from the Irish zealots for months. Many will get their first chance the see Clausen on Saturday in the All-American Bowl, which will be the first of many appearances on NBC, the television network that broadcasts Notre Dame's home football games.

This week, many coaches and recruiting experts praised Clausen's play in the West team's practices and said that he has lived up to his high-profile billing.

But some of those people have also withheld criticism to avoid alienating the game's poster child.

Privately, they said they were disappointed by his pretentiousness, and they questioned if he had as much long-term potential as the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Ryan Mallett, a West team quarterback from Texarkana, Tex., who is headed to Michigan.

When asked if he is a better quarterback than Clausen, Mallett said, ''We'll see how it goes Saturday.''

Scott Kennedy, director of national combines for Scout.com, which covers prep football recruiting, said Clausen was a more college-ready quarterback than Mallett and expected him to be the starter at Notre Dame by the end of next season. He said he had been impressed with Clausen's arm strength and mechanics this week and believed that the player was shy, not arrogant.

''He's never going to live up to the expectations that some people have built for him,'' Kennedy said in a telephone interview. ''You can't judge him on his hype.''

But as impressive as Clausen's stats were this season, much of his success came against far less talented opponents. Oaks Christian, which this season had as many as 12 players who could sign N.C.A.A. Division I scholarships, defeated its opponents by an average score of 53-9.

Oaks Christian Coach Bill Redell, an assistant for the West team this week, defended his team's opponents, pointing out that it defeated nationally ranked St. Bonaventure of Ventura, Calif., 59-13.

''I would say any freshman that could go into Notre Dame and start, it would be Jimmy Clausen,'' Redell said in a telephone interview. ''He has all the tools physically and mentally. He's way beyond his years.''

Indeed, Clausen is already 19 and will turn 20 during his freshman season at Notre Dame. He started kindergarten at 6 and repeated sixth grade.

He is older than Arkansas quarterback Mitch Mustain and Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford, who both played in the All-American Bowl last year and started several games during their freshman seasons in college.

Kennedy said he disagreed with critics who doubt Clausen's long-term ability.

''To say that a 19-year-old kid can't get any better and use the term 'peak' is ridiculous,'' he said.

Clausen, who wears a shiny silver military-style dog tag bearing his No. 7 in fake diamonds, is undeterred by his detractors. He dismissed them with a smirk, saying they do not know him. ''People are going to say what they want to say,'' he said.

He said he liked hip-hop music, water skiing and snowboarding, but he maintained that his focus was on his future at Notre Dame.

He said Weis told him that he would have the chance to compete for the starting job against Evan Sharpley, who will be a junior, and Demetrius Jones and Zach Frazer, who will be entering their second year in the Irish program.

''I'm going to do everything I can to start and help the team win and get to a national championship bowl game and win all that stuff,'' Clausen said.

And that will ultimately decide if he is Notre Dame's next Joe Montana, or its next Ron Powlus.

Photo: Jimmy Clausen will enroll at Notre Dame this month and try to win the starting job by the fall. (Photo by Dana R. Bowler/Ventura County Star)